“Money never made a man happy yet, nor will it. The more a man has, the more he wants. Instead of filling a vacuum, it makes one.” - Benjamin Franklin

"Money can't buy you happiness, but it can buy you extra time to be happy." - Scott Pio

Today after a successful twelve days of blogging, I made my first dollar. I am at $1.03 this present moment and I am still moving upward. Most small businesses always have a commemorative dollar sticking up on their wall so everyone can see. At this present moment, after making my first dollar, I don't feel any different and I don't think after I make my first hundred dollars will it feel different either. I am a person who doesn't worry too much about money and seem to always be okay with the amount of money that comes in my door. I always seem to sustain my current lifestyle which isn't much and don't ever seem to have to worry about money.

"I am a computer programmer. There will always be work for me."

If there will always be work for me then why write a blog? First and foremost, I will be honest and say I am doing it for selfish reasons. A bit different than what the readers might think, which isn't for money.In school and now at work, I have always been told I write like I speak. I shouldn't do that. In high school, I got around a 400 on my American SATs which at the time the max was 800. I wasn't a great writer by any means, I'm still not. I am a technical person. I write to this blog to further increase my writing ability. I want to make a better writer some day, which means practice makes perfect.

So why mention the money?Why can't I get paid to write what I say. Why can't I make the measly 10 cents per post that I write up? I suggest if your a technical person, that you make a goal to start writing if you care where you might be in ten years.

Programmers and technical people in general need to learn how to write better. They need to learn how to comment better. They need to learn how to write proposals better. Programmers might write in several places, but to name a few.

You might write:

A business plan for when you deploy your first startup.

A white paper explaining the next best idea to help increase programming efficiency.

A business case analysis for that startup you just created.

A proposal for that TOP SECRET Government contract that will put your name down next to Albert Einstein.

A argument for or against Microsoft/Apple/Adobe/Google products that could end up saving you or your company MILLIONS.

A technical manual for use of that TOP SECRET government project you just created.

For a magazine article.

Your next speech to the WORLD explaining to them why you are the best programmer in the world.

These things are some what far fetched, but you really don't know when you might be put into that position.

So write articales, do a journal and write often.

"It is better to have tried and lost, than to never have tried at all." - anonymous

Programmers seek to improve them selves every day with beautiful code, but why not also seek to improve your self every day with your dialect?

Congrats on the first dollar. Hopefully it's the first of many. I'm in a similar boat with regards to my blog, though I started a few months ago. A gentle nudge: "... suggest if your a technical person ..." should read "... suggest if you're a technical person ...".